Middle And Late Ming Scholarly Gathering

Elegant Meeting (YaJi) is one of the important forms that literati associate with each other. They met friends through poems, painting calligraphy, music, etc. The Elegant Meeting, which has a long history in China, includes literary creation, art appreciation and banquets. Until the middle period of Ming Dynasty, with the development of commodity economy, social division and social reform, the idea and style of literati's life changed tremendously. With the shorter interval between gatherings, richer content and more participants, the Elegant Meeting then showed a distinct feature of the age.The article is based on literati's collected works, notes, local chronicles, etc. It analyses the participating groups, organizational mode, content, regional features, era characteristics and cultural connotation of literati in this period. Through this platform, the article unfolds the life state of literati, discusses literati's social interaction pattern and psychological change process under the background of commodity economy development and social transformation. Then, it sums up the cultural origin of the Elegant Meeting as well as its significance and influence in the whole society of middle and late Ming Dynasty.The text includes three parts. The first introduces the general situation of the Elegant Meeting in middle and late Ming Dynasty, traces back its development course, summarizes the background as well as regional features and group characteristics in this period. The second part analyses the organizational form of the Elegant Meeting, including organizers, schedules, financial source, main contents and cultural connotation. The third part explores the reconstruction and social influence of the Elegant Meeting. It was frequently held as the result of rapid economic development, and was related to the political environment, social and ideological trend, and social fashion. Its cultural influence is the reason why the Elegant Meeting was able to attract the literati, who pursuits cultural identity.The Elegant Meetings in middle and late Ming Dynasty excelled previous generations'modes, owning their typical characteristics in organizational form, contents and cultural features. As their realistic and spiritual sustenance, the Elegant Meeting in middle and late Ming Dynasty opened a new chapter in its history. What's behind the Elegant Meeting were the social trends and features of the whole period. On one hand, it condensed literati with culture force, stimulated their creativity, expanded the scope of their communication, changed the whole society's culture grade, promoted liberation of social ideology, and the prosperity of literature and art. On the other hand, its advocacy of self-indulgence also caused some negative effect.